Monday, 31 August 2015

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Six Palestinian prisoners entered their 13th day on hunger strike Monday in protest against being held under the Israeli policy of administrative detention in solitary confinement, a prisoner rights group said.

Nidal Abu Aker, 48, Shadi Maali, 39, Ghassan Zawahreh, 32, all from Bethlehem, and Badr al-Ruzza and Munir Abu Sharar from Hebron began a hunger strike on Aug. 18 to protest their detention without trial, the Palestinian Prisoner's Center said.

The detainees -- who are being held in isolation at the Negev jail -- have given Israel's Prison Service until Sept. 1 to respond to their demands, at which point they will stop taking fluids and boycott Israeli military courts.

Another detainee, Kayid Fawzi Abu al-Rish, 42, from Nablus, entered his 26th day on hunger strike Monday to protest his detention without trial, which has been renewed twice for a period of six months.

He is currently being held in isolation in the Megiddo jail.

Administrative detention allows for internment without trial or charge for six-month intervals that can be renewed indefinitely. The policy has been strongly criticized by the international community as well as both Israeli and Palestinian rights activists. more